1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording apparatus that records on a recording medium by reciprocating a recording head to scan.
2. Related Background Art
A recording apparatus provided with the function of a printer, a copying machine, a facsimile, or the like or a recording apparatus used as the output device of a complex type electronic equipment or a work station including a computer, a word processor, or the like is structured to record images on a recording material (recording medium), such as paper sheet, thin plastic plate, in accordance with image information.
Of the recording apparatuses of the kind, the recording apparatus of serial scan type is, in general, such that a recording head is mounted on a carriage, and that the head is allowed to scan when the carriage is driven. The recording apparatus of line type uses the recording head, the recording element of which is arranged over the enter width of the recording area of a recording medium. Then, while the recording medium is being conveyed intermittently at a designated pitch corresponding to the size of the recording element, the recording element is driven for recording on the recording medium when the conveyance of the recording medium is at rest.
For the serial scan type recording apparatus, it is extremely important to perform the scanning of the recording head stably, that is, to stabilize the behavior of the carriage for the serial scanning, in order to obtain the clear and high-quality result of recording. Particularly, the vibration of the motor that serves as a driving source to drive the carriage, and the vibration that occurs due to the engagement of a belt with a pulley for the transmission of driving power from the motor are factors that make the behavior of the carriage unstable.
For the conventional recording apparatus of serial scan type, therefore, the structure is formed to arrange an elastic member capable of being elastically deformed in the traveling direction of a carriage between the carriage and a belt or a member that fixes the belt to the carriage, hence attenuating the vibrations resulting from the operation of the motor and belt.
For the conventional structure described above, however, the elastic member is arranged to make the elastic deformation in the traveling direction of the carriage. Consequently, the positional deviation of the carriage ultimately becomes greater in the traveling direction of the carriage, thus causing the resultant problems identified below.
(1) Response capability is lowered when actuated.
(2) The carriage vibrates when it is driven.
(3) Positional deviation occurs when carriage stops.
These problems not only result in lowering the stability of the carriage operation, but also lead to lowered throughput. Particularly, in recent years, it has been required for a recording apparatus to record at higher speed. Here, the lowered stability of the carriage operation and the lowered throughput make it difficult to attain the compatibility of high-quality recording and high-speed recording.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a recording apparatus capable of suppressing the positional deviation of the carriage, while attenuating vibrations transmitted from the driving source of the carriage effectively.
It is another object of the invention to provide a recording apparatus provided with a damper capable of attenuating vibrations transmitted to a carriage from the driving source and the driving power transmission mechanism, which is structured to make the attenuation effect larger in a direction other than the traveling direction of the carriage so that the vibrations from the driving source and the power transmission mechanism are attenuated mainly by the attenuation effect in a direction other than the traveling direction of the carriage.
It is still another object of the invention to provide a recording apparatus which comprises a conveying mechanism for conveying a recording material; a carriage for holding a recording head portion for recording on a recording material movably provided to reciprocate in a direction intersecting with the recording material conveying direction of the conveying mechanism; a driving source for generating driving power to enable the carriage to reciprocate; a driving power transmission mechanism for transmitting driving power from the driving source; and a damper for attenuating vibrations transmitted to the carriage through the driving power transmission mechanism, the damper being structured to make the attenuation effect larger in a direction not parallel to the traveling direction of the carriage than in the traveling direction of the carriage.